"His sympathy and understanding of the problems of Africa were a great source of courage to all who have been engaged in the struggle for the liberation and unity of Africa."
-President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, in a broadcast on the death of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
"In the upsurge of anti-colonial and freedom struggles that swept through Asia and Africa in the postwar period, there could hardly be a liberation movement or national leader who was not influenced one way or another by the thoughts, activities and example of Pandit Nehru and the All India Congress. If I may presume to look back on my own political education and upbringing, I find that my own ideas were influenced by his experience."
- Nelson Mandela, in letter from prison to India, August 3, 1980
Whenever Jawaharlal Nehru spoke of Africa, it was with the passion of a historian who revolted at the long martyrdom of the people of that continent, the faith of a leader of a national liberation struggle in the ultimate triumph of all oppressed peoples, and the commitment of an internationalist to assist other peoples in their efforts for emancipation. There was not the slightest trace of condescension or paternalism, but respect for the culture of the African peoples and confidence in their resurgence. Africa, to him, was not a remote continent but a neighbour across the seas, "for the sea both separates and connects." (Nehru and Africa, page 38).
He espoused African freedom during India`s own struggle for independence. Hardly had he become head of the Interim Government on September 1, 1946, that he began to exhort Asia and the world to help Africa. He told the Asian Relations Conference in New Delhi in March 1947: "We of Asia have a special responsibility to the people of Africa. We must help them to take their rightful place in the human family." At the conclusion of the Asian-African Conference in Bandung in 1955, he felt compelled to point out:
"Everything else pales into insignificnce when I think of the infinite tragey of Africa ever since the days when millions of Africans were carried away as galleyslaves to America and elsewhere, half of them dying in the galleys. We must accept responsibility for it, all of us, even though we ourselves were not directly involved."
"Even now," he continued, "the tragedy of Africa is greater than that of any other continent, whether it is racial or political. It is up to Asia to help Africa to the best of her ability because we are sister continents." (Speech at concluding session on April 24, 1955).
He told the Seminar on Problems of Portuguese Colonies in New Delhi on October 20, 1961:
"My heart goes out to what is heppening in Africa. I think that the agony of the African continent throughout history has been such that it has not been equalled anywhere. It is terrible, and I think the whole world owes it to the African people not to hinder them, but to help them in freedom in every way." (Nehru and Africa, page 36).
He saw to it that India did its utmost to promote African freedom and play a leading role on behalf of Africa in the United Nations and other fora until newly-independent African nations could take over.
He rejoiced at the march of freedom in Africa by the early 1960`s and the formation of the Organization of African Unity. He said on August 12, 1963:
"... perhaps the most exciting thing that is happening in the twentieth century is the awakening of Africa...
"It is, I think, a major event in history and, what is more, it is going to play an ever-growing part in the coming years. We in India have naturally welcomed it." (Nehru and Africa, page 37)
Africa, moreover, was very much in his mind as he sought to promote a "peace zone" shielded from the cold war, and build a concert of non-aligned nations to secure the total abolition of colonialism and promote a world without arms and war. The decision of the African States in 1963, to join the Movement of Non-aligned Countries en bloc, making Africa the one continent that is totally non-aligned, was in a sense the best tribute to the labours of Pandit Nehru.
Heritage of the Indian national movement
Nehru`s concern with racialism and colonialism in Africa and his feeling of solidarity with the African people has its roots in his innate humanism, his experience in the Indian freedom struggle and his intimate association with Mahatma Gandhi.
Until the 1920`s Indian interest in Africa had centred around the position of Indian settlers in southern and eastern Africa. Tens of thousands of Indians had been recruited, after the abolition of African slavery in the nineteenth century, to work under semi-slave conditions as indentured labourers in plantations, mines and railways in South Africa, the Carbbean and the Pacific. Africans and Indians thus shared in oppression. By the end of the century, however, some of the Indian labourers who completed their indenture, and the traders who followed them, advanced in economically. Concerned at competition from them, European settlers in South Africa enacted a series of measures designed to dispossess and deport the "free" Indians. The Satyagraha led by Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa from 1906 to 1914, for the rights and honour of Indians, fired Indian imagination and the first political activity of Jawaharlal Nehru was to raise funds for the resisters in South Africa in 1912.
His interest widened to encompass the entire continent of Africa, and a global view of its struggles, when he represented the Indian National Congress at the International Congress against Imperialism, held in Brussels in 1927, and met several African leaders. He also became familiar with the developments in South Africa and warmly welcomed the agreement among the South African delegates at the conference to promote cooperation among Africans, Indians and radical whites in the struggle against racism.
In a memorandum on "A Foreign Policy for India" , sent to the Indian Congress later that year, he suggested that Indians in Africa "should cooperate with the Africans and help them as far as possible and not claim a special position for themselves which is denied to the indigenous inhabitants of the country." (Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Volume 2, page 362).
He maintained contact with several leaders of the African freedom movements, especially in London, and with the Pan African movement. The Pan African Congresses began to support the Indian demand for complete iodependence while the Indian national movement expressed its full sympathy for African aspirations.
In 1936, while passing through Rome on way to India, Nehru rejected approaches for a meeting with the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, because of the Italian invasion of Abyssinia. Instead, he organized nation-wide demonstrations in India to denounce the aggression, and declared in his presidential address to the Congress that year:
"In Abyssinia bloody and cruel war has already gone on for many months, and we have watched anew how hungry and predatory imperialism behaves in its mad search for colonial domains. We have watched also with admiration the brave fight of the Ethiopians for their freedom against heavy odds... Their struggle is something more than a local struggle. It is one of the first effective checks by an African people on an advancing imperialism..." (Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Volume 7, p.194).
At the same time, fascist measures in South Africa aroused resistance among Africans and Indians. A new generation of Indian leaders, led by Dr. Yusuf M. Dadoo, challenged the compromising leadership of the Indian Congresses, prepared for militabnt resistance to racist measures and sought unity with the African majiority in a common struggle for freedom. Nehru`s strong support to the militants helped promote a non-European united front and joint campaigns against racist measures.
Meanwhile, the progress and ideology of the national movement in India, the largest colony struggling against the mightiest imperial power, was followed with keen interest by Africans. The writings of Pandit Nehru were avidly read by African intellectuals. His international outlook and his stress that national freedom must benefit the common people, appealed to the emergent African movements in which the youth and trade unions played a crucial role. Nowehere was this as striking as in South Africa, with one of the oldest national movements struggling against the heaviest odds. To quote Nelson Mandela:
"While at university and engrossed in student politics, I, for the first time, became familiar with the name of this famous man. In the `forties, for the first time I read one of his books, The Unity of India. It made an indelible impression on my mind and ever since then I procured, read and treasured any one of his works that became available."
Indians in Africa
Discrimination against Indians in South Africa was one of the first concerns of Pandit Nehru when he became head of the Interim Government in 1946. The way he approached the issue, so unlike leaders of other governments, demonstrated most clearly his respect for African rights and interests.
Indians in South Africa had launched a passive resistance movement in June 1946 in protest against the "Ghetto Act". Public feeling in India was so intense that even the Viceroy`s government was obliged to impose a trade embargo against South Africa, recall its High Commissioner from South Africa and lodge a complaint with the United Nations.
While pressing for action by the United Nations for the removal of discriminatory measures against Indians, Pandit Nehru constantly drew attention to the broader context of racism in South Africa and beyond, and exhorted Indians in Africa to cooperate with the Africans. He wrote in a policy decision on September 15, 1946:
"While India must necessarily aim at protecting the interests and honour of her nationals abroad,... we do not seek any special privileges against the inhabitants of the countries concerned. This would apply specially to African countries where the inhabitants are relatively backward and have been exploited in the past by others, including to some extent even Indians. Our objective should be to help in the rapid progress of these African territories towards political and economic freedom." (Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Second Series, Volume 1, page 446).
In a message to Indians in South Africa on the eve of the formation of the Interim Government, he said:
"The struggle in South Africa is, however, not merely an Indian issue... It concerns ultimately the Africans who have suffered so much by racial discrimination and suppression. ... Therefore, the Indians in South Africa should help in every way and cooperate with the Africans." (Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Second Series, Volume 1, page 437).
He said in a further message to Africa in May 1947:
"Indians who live in Africa must always remember that they are the guests of the Africans and that they may not do anything which might interefere with the progress of the Africans towards freedom. They must help Africans to attain their goal, and must cooperate with them in every way for their mutual advantage. We do not want any Indians to go abroad to exploit the people of any other country...
"We want to build up one world where freedom is universal, and there is equality of opportunity between races and peoples.
"I send my good wishes to the people of Africa and my fellow-countrymen in Africa, and I hope that in the difficult days to come they will co-operate together to realise the great ideals we have before us." (Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Second Series, Volume 3, page 329).
Nehru`s outlook was shared by Mahatma Gandhi who had spent 21 years of his life in South Africa and maintained a continuing interest in the continent. Gandhiji believed, as did Nehru, that freedom of India should be a means for promoting freedom of all oppressed people. He stressed that Africa belonged to the African people and that if any rights of Indians there conflicted with those of oppressed Africans, they should forego those rights. When white hooligans attacked Indian passive resisters in South Africa in 1946, he declared that he would not shed a tear if all the Indian resisters were wiped out, for they would show the way to the Africans and vindicate the honour of India. (Collected Works, Vol. 84, pp. 422-423).
India`s complaint to the United Nations provided no relief to the Indians in South Africa, but served to internationalize the issue of racism in South Africa, and encourage united struggle by the South African people. In 1952, when the African National Congress and the South African Indian Congress jointly launched the "Campaign of Defiance against Unjust Laws", India took the lead, in cooperation with other Asian and Arab States, to seize the United Nations of the broader question of apartheid and took all appropriate action to rally support to the African National Congress. Pandit Nehru declared that the revolt of all the oppressed people had overtaken the Indian question and "it is right that it should be so." (Letter to Chief Ministers, 26 August 1952).
He said in a speech in the Lok Sabha on March 28, 1960, after the Sharpeville massacre:
"The people of Indian descent in South Africa, as we well know, have had to put up with a great deal of discrimination and suffering and we have resented that. But we must remember that the African people have to put up with something infinitely more, and that, therefore, our sympathies must go out to them even more than to our kith and ken there."
Two years later, India withdrew its request for separate consideration of its complaint to the United Nations and threw its entire weight behind action against apartheid.
In Kenya, as in South Africa, Pandit Nehru tried to promote African-Indian unity for freedom. In 1952, when the Mau Mau rebellion and brutal mass repirsals by the authorities created a grave situation, he appealed to the Indians in Kenya to stand by the Africans in the hour of their need and resist maneuvres by the authorities to set Indians against the Africans. He strongly denounced the repression and did not hesitate to criticize Indian leaders who were timid.
Support for Africa`s freedom and advancement
Almost from the day he became head of the Interim Government, and even before India attained independence, Pandit Nehru ensured that India pressed in every international forum for speedy advancement of African and other colonial territories to self-government and independence. He never wavered in his confidence, which was shared by few other world leaders at the time that Africa would soon be free of colonial rule. As he wrote in his letter to Chief Ministers of Indian States on February 3, 1949:
"Whatever the immediate future may be in Africa, it is clear that the whole continent of Africa has got a big future and changes will take place there fairly rapidly. These changes will be governed by the new political consciousness of the African people. We welcome this new consciousness and wish to coperate with it." (Letters to Chief Ministers, Volume I, pages 275-76).
At the first session of the United Nations General Assembly in 1946, the Indian delegation carried his instruction to give highest priority to the issues of colonialism and racism. It not only pressed the complaint concerning racial discrimination against Indians in South Africa, but was instrumental in defeating the maneuvre of the South African government to annex the mandated territory of South West Africa. It fought doggedly to revise the trusteeship agreements proposed by the colonial Powers in favour of the colonial peoples, asserting that sovereignty belonged to the people of the territories and not the administering Powers.
This was a difficult task as the United Nations was then dominated by the colonial Powers and their friends, and even other Asian States tended to vacillate or succumb to pressures. The espousal of the cause of the peoples oppressed by colonialism and racism earned India the hostility of colonial Powers which increased with the aggravation of the "cold war" and the rise of military alliances and blocs. This experience was to have a significant effect on the country`s foreign relations.
India`s support for African freedom was not confined to public statements or debates at the United Nations and other fora or even diplomatic exchanges. Pandit Nehru was always responsive to requests of African leaders and organizations for practical assistance.
He instituted a scholarship programme for African students at the request of Kenyan organizations in 1946. The programme was rapidly expanded and despite the acute scarcity of places in Indian educational institutions, facilities were readily provided for African applicants. Pandit Nehru took personal interest in the welfare and progress of the African students.
In 1952, when Jomo Kenyatta was imprisoned in Kenya, he sent a senior counsel for his defence despite the resentment of British authorities. In 1955, when the African National Congress and the South African Indian Congress sought to send a delegation to the Asian- African Conference, he arranged for their travel to Bandung and introduced the delegation to the leaders at the Conference. In 1960, when Oliver Tambo escaped to Bechuanaland to seek international support for the struggle in South Africa, Pandit Nehru rushed him travel documents by a special plane.
In 1961, when the Congo (now Zaire) was faced with a grave crisis after the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, he sent an Indian brigade to serve with the United Nations peacekeeping force. It enabled the United Nations to expel Belgian and other mercenaries and protect the integrity of the Congo.
The process of decolonization of Africa was complicated by the cold war and the system of military alliances which encouraged colonial Powers like Portugal to undertake brutal wars. There was a constant threat of foreign military intervention even after independence and of a new scramble for Africa.
Pandit Nehru was forthright in opposing foreign intervention and the intrusion of East-West conflict into Africa. The non-aligned countries played a signficant role in providing diplomatic and other assistance to enable African countries to withstand external pressures.
Pandit Nehru recognized that the task of building themselves up would be much more difficult and would require the help of all countries. He assured Africa "that so far as India is concerned, all our thinking and emotions are with you, and that so far as we can help, we shall help." (Statement to Seminar on Problems of Portuguese Colonies, October 20, 1961, in Nehru and Africa, page 36). Despite its own economic difficulties, India provided assistance to a number of African countries and liberation movements.
Pandit Nehru`s advocacy of the policy of non- alignment, with its positive and dynamic content, had a great appeal to Africa. With the advance of African countries to independence, the Movement of Non-aligned Countries emerged as a major force in the community of nations.
The Legacy of Nehru
Pandit Nehru played a historic role in assisting the African people to ensure that the colonial revolution in Asia would be soon be followed by the resurgence of Africa, confounding those who hoped to keep that continent in perpetuity as their preserve. He was, in a sense, one of the architects of the united front determined to destroy the abomination of apartheid in South Africa. The decision of African States to the non-aligned movement en bloc is a tribute to his vision as to that of African leaders.
He has left behind a legacy of intimate friendship between India and Africa in the process of liberation and nation-building. But for him, this was to serve not only the national interests but the larger cause of humanity. The cooperation of India and the African nations - and, indeed, of all non-aligned and like- minded countries - in securing a world without arms and geneuine international cooperation in the interests of humanity is the abiding monument to his memory.
Footnotes